I would follow the book. It was written by Dr. Atkins as the best way to get the best results from this way of life. I would leave the frankenfoods out of my eating plan completely (this is just what I do - what you do is up to you), but particularly out of the first two week induction period. As for the Atkins catalog - it's called "marketing." They're now in the business of making money, not making folks healthy. Dr. Atkins developed this way of eating and wrote his books with the idea of making folks healthy - not hauling down the big bucks selling us frankenfoods. The best course to healthiness and weight reduction is to eat whole natural foods only. This is just MHO.

I do, upon occasion, eat the low carb tortillas because I love quesadillas, and I do follow low carb recipes for making breads and so forth using whey protein powder, and will occasionally use Splenda to make a dessert, but I leave the rest of the low carb products alone. There are a lot of low carb recipes out there that use these two products that end up making a much tastier end result than those bread mixes. (I don't know that from personal experience but a friend of mine has tried it both ways and thinks the bread mixes make HORRIBLE bread.)

shortstuff